


Goodnight, Goodnight

by MythicalCatie



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Depressed Link, Depression, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Suicidal Link, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-10
Updated: 2018-04-10
Packaged: 2019-04-20 19:08:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14267649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MythicalCatie/pseuds/MythicalCatie
Summary: Link has had enough. The weight of a heavy world has been on his shoulders for far too long, and he's too tired to take it for even a single second longer.





	Goodnight, Goodnight

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, all! This is a work I'm bringing over from my Tumblr (thefrenchmaidoutfit), something that was originally titled "Ribcage". So, if you've seen it over there, don't worry, I'm not stealing it. It's all mine. Enjoy!

_“I can’t do this anymore, Rhett,” he said, trembling. It felt like he hadn’t been still for hours. Not even the strong arms that he was wrapped in could manage to settle him.  
_

_The tears on his face were ice, as was the rest of him. He couldn’t remember the last time he was warm._

_“Do what anymore, bo?” Rhett asked, slowly dragging the pad of a thumb over the skin under Link’s eye to wipe away the wet. His own were heavy, now, tired. Worn from the demands of what his husband was experiencing, though he couldn’t even begin to compare his raggedness to his spouse’s. Link’s, he was sure, was much worse.  
_

_“ **This** ,” he repeated as if he expected Rhett to suddenly understand by the simple fact of hearing it again, but a more thorough explanation wasn’t far behind. “The… God, everything. The yelling, the fighting, the treating you badly.” The getting angry at the man that he loved, simply trying to feel anything at all. “Hurting you over and over when you and I both know you don’t deserve it. I can’t…-” He sniffled, and this was usually the point when he’d blow his nose into a shirt to take care of it, but he couldn’t bring himself to ruin Rhett’s. He’d done well enough in ruining too much of him so far. “Can’t handle being in my head. I want out.”   
_

_Rhett could walk away when Link was out of control, could leave when Link was getting angry and spiraling further through a rabbit hole with fury all the way down. Rhett could exit the room, come back when the younger man was calm. No, he usually didn’t. He typically stayed, but at least he had the option to go if he wanted. Link… he could never get away from himself no matter how far or fast he tried to run. He’d forever be inescapable, and the bruises on his thighs were a constant reminder. All that energy had to go somewhere, right? It had to go somewhere when he couldn’t move anywhere at all._

_“I know,” the blond hummed, voice as soft as always, as it’d ever be. He always did his best to be gentle. Running his hand through Link’s greying hair- or as much of it as he could with Link’s face buried in his chest-, Rhett prayed that what he had to say would be enough. Nothing seemed to help these days. Not anymore. “I know you do. But it won’t be like this forever, sweetheart. You go through these times, yeah, but they always end. They end and then you’re yourself again. This time will pass, just like the others. I promise.”_

Those words might have been true, if only partially. His episodes would end, sure. For a little while. They would cease, but without fail, they’d always come back. One day, he’d be doing fine. He’d be smiling, he’d be  _happy._ He’d feel like everything was all right. But then, when he least expected it, emptiness would come right back to swallow him whole once again. No matter how far or fast he tried to run, it would always catch up to him. He would never escape it for as long as he lived. 

There was only one way out of this. Out of his head, out of his suffering, out of the clutches of the monster named Nothing. Out of the cycle that never failed to take him prisoner time and time again. One way.

Rhett had always tried so hard, and for leaving him, Link was sorry. But he had tried harder, and he was done fighting a war he’d never win. And so, there was only one way to escape this, and it was through the cold barrel of the gun in his mouth.  

At least in death, he’d finally be free. 


End file.
